Being Nice
by tremwaterz
Summary: Victoria Chase never had the most stable way of telling people how she felt. Maybe this year would be the year she finally showed everyone the real her. Maybe everyone would see past all the designer clothes and fancy jewelry. Maybe they would finally see the nerdy girl behind all the walls she put up to defend herself. ...Maybe being nice was harder than she thought...
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, Victoria. You can do this. Just go say hi to her. You can do this. She's not that great. Just go over there and say hello. Then, you can go back into your dorm. Just introduce yourself as her neighbor. She'll be happy to have some friends, right?_

Today was the time for all Blackwell students to move their belongings into their dorms and get adjusted to the other students. Generally, people took this as a chance to make friends with their neighbors and anyone else who caught their attention. For Victoria, this was a day to try talking with someone. It was hard for her to be nice. More often than not, she would end up coming across as rude. Across the hall was a brown haired girl who seemed nice enough. Victoria flattened out her outift and walked across the hall. The door was already open, so she just had to say something.

"Hello?"the girl called out to her.

"What's your name?"

"Max Caulfield. It's, uh, nice to meet you."

"Look here, Caulfield. We're not friends and it wasn't nice to meet _you_. I could be doing anything else right now."

 _Shit. Why'd you just say that? What the hell, Victoria?_

"Oh. Sorry..."

"I live across the hall so don't be making too much noise. Victoria Chase, by the way."

She turned around and walked straight back into her room. When she was in there, she groaned from what she had just said. If she was going to make friends, she should probably try being nicer. She heard some violin playing from next door.

 _That's actually not too bad. I should compliment her._

Victoria knocked on the door to the left of her room. A girl with her brown hair in a bun answered the door. She still held a violin and a bow in one hand. She looked at Victoria nervously. Apparently, people didn't appreciate it when they were studied for a full minute and a half.

"You sound like shit."

 _Fuck. Why can't you be nice?_

"W- What?"

"I said you're playing w- was sh- It sounded like- Your playing sounded very t- UGH."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Of course I'm alright,"Victoria snapped,"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seem a little on edge. I could make some tea, if you'd like."

 _That sounds nice._

"I don't want any of your damn tea."

The girl looked confused. She was even more confused when Victoria turned around and went to a different door. On the other side of Victoria's dorm was another student. She might as well try again. Maybe she could finally be nice to someone? She knocked on the door. A girl with blue and red highlights in her hair answered.

"Yeah?"she said.

"What are you doing?"

 _Okay. Good just keep talking nice._

"Playing a video game. Do you want to join?"

 _Sounds like it could be fun. Just say yes and everything will be okay._

"Hell no. Who do you take me for?"

"A simple 'no' would be fine."

The girl slammed the door in her face. Victoria was left outside, feeling like a jerk. She walked down the hallway until she came to a door with a girl in a revealing top talking to a blonde girl.

 _That's a nice shirt, but it shows a little too much. She can totally pull the look off. I don't think I'd be that brave. It's still a cute top, though._

"Slut,"Victoria practically growled.

"Excuse me?"

 _Fuck. This is bad. Just explain yourself. It'll all turn out for the better._

"You shouldn't show so much skin if you don't want to be labeled."

"What's your name?"

"Why?"

"So I know who to punch in the face later.

 _This is bad. This is very bad._

"I'd like to see you try. My family would take you down."

The girl rolled her eyes, but she backed down.

"Wow,"a blonde girl in jean shorts said,"You totally told her off."

"Yeah, that was so funny,"a girl with short hair and uneven eyebrows added.

The two introduced themselves as Taylor and Courtney. They seemed nice enough, but also seemed to enjoy Victoria telling people off. They followed her around for a while before heading off to their own dorms.

Nate: Hey, Vic. You up for a drink?

Victoria: I always am

Nathan, her childhood friend, was waiting for her at a bar. He had already ordered a drink. Victoria sat next to him and slammed her head against the table.

"What's up with you?"

"I tried to make friends today, but I got nervous. I started saying really mean things."

"Damn. You know, Vic. Some people like rude bitches."

"I did make two friends, but they're idiots."

"Wow. Good job. What all did you say to everyone?"

"I told the girl next to me that her violin playing was shit. It wasn't, though. She was actually really good. I feel so bad."

By now, Nathan was laughing his head off. He always found Victoria's adventures of trying to make friends hilarious. She tried too hard and ended up stressing out about saying the right thing. Since she stressed so much, she ended up saying anything to hide how she truly felt. For someone that didn't know her, it was hard to tell when she was serious or just trying to be too nice.

"What else? You wouldn't be upset just becase of that."

"I basically told the girl across the hall to fuck off."

"Oh my god, Vic. Your stories never get old."

"Then my other neighbor invited me to play video games and I told her off. The last was the girl down the hall. I called her a slut. Then these two girls started following me around. I guess they think I'm cool."

Nathan put an arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure you can get through this year. It's not that bad. You can still make friends if you try."

"I doubt it."

"Look, people can learn to love the real you. They don't know that you're just a big dork. You aren't this evil queen bitch. They'll figure it out."

"You know you have this same problem."

"That and we have our parents."

"They're assholes."

"Couldn't have said it better myself,"he said with a laugh.

The two spent most of the night drinking away everything that had happened during the day. Sometimes, all it took to calm you down was a heavy alcohol and a good friend. That is, until you have to find a way home. In the end, they decided to take the bus. They stumbled into a seat, laughing uncontrollably. People looked at them strangely. A few kids from their school stared in confusion. One of which Victoria recognized as the girl across the hall.

"Psst, Nate,"Victoria said in a whisper.

"Yeah?!"

"SHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh sorry,"he said in a whisper,"Whassup?"

"That girl over there is the girl that, like, she has the what's it called?"

"I don't know."

"Okay so she like has this thing and there's a hallway and she has a room."

"The room across from you?"

"Yeah! That's it!"

"YO!"Nathan called over to Max,"WHASSUP?"

"Um. Who are you?"

"I'm Nathan PRESCOTT."

"I'm Victoria."

"Yeah. We've met before. I moved in across the hall."

"Uh huh."

Nathan leaned back onto Victoria. The blonde girl just absentmindedly played with his hair. She started laughing all of a sudden. It was painfully obvious that they were drunk out of their minds.

"You seem pretty nice. Why'd you snap at this chick earlier, Vic?"

"You know how I get with new people."

"Of course. I've only known you all my life."

"Ooo ooo! We should take a selfie!"

"Yeah!"

"Hey, hipster! Come here,"Victoria said, holding up her phone.

Confused, Max took the seat behind them and gave a smile and held up a peace sign. Victoria and Nathan stuck their tongues out at the camera. They took a few different pictures before they arrived at school.

"Okay. So you aren't _technically_ allowed in the girls' dorms so you have to go to your own room."

"Aww, but Viiiiiic."

"No buts."

"Can I stay with you? Pleeeeeease?"

"Fine. Let's go. It'll be like we're kids again when we were sneaking out to play on the playground with the other kids."

"Then we'd get in so much trouble."

The two almost fell over from laughing. Max decided to ignore them and went ahead inside. The two did eventually end up in Victoria's room. It was a little past ten when they fell asleep.

Sunlight came through the curtains of Victoria's room. Outside, she could hear students talking. The light directly hit her eyes. It was far too bright for her to see properly. She reached onto her nightstand for her glasses. When she finally found them, she slide them on and looked around her room. Nathan was laying on the floor with a pillow and blanket. Both of them were still dressed in yesterday's clothes. It seemed like they had immediately gone to sleep. Victoria was glad to see she had managed to take out her contacts and wash off her makeup before sleeping. However, she hadn't taken off her shoes.

"Ugh,"Nathan groaned from the floor.

"You awake?"

"Barely."

"I'm not feeling too good. Can you- Can you grab me that trashcan over there?"

Nathan passed it to her. A moment later, Victoria was throwing up. Nathan was a little better off. It seemed he was better with hangovers than she was. He grabbed her a bottle of water and an asprin after taking one for himself.

"You're a real piece of work."

"Don't I know it."

He rolled up his sleeves and cleaned off her mouth with a tissue. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and almost gagged at the smell.

"Holy fuck this stinks. Go brush your teeth."

She swished some water around in her mouth before spitting it in the trashcan. Eventually, she would have to do something with it, but that could wait.

"Not until after I take a nice, long shower."

"At least we don't have classes yet."

"I guess you're right."

"People are going to assume we slept together when I walk out of here."

"Ew!"

"I know, right? People like to assume things. We're guilty of that, too."

"They can go fuck themselves. I'm going to the showers. Distract them if you can."

"That won't be hard."

Nathan walked out into the hallway. He was instantly stared at. He began talking to girls, easily deistracting everyone while Victoria headed to get cleaned up.

"Uh, boys aren't supposed to be in the girls' dorms,"a girl said to him.

"Well guess where I am?"

For once, Victoria was glad that her best friend never shut up. He was a very easy person to use as a decoy. Everyone was always distracted by him, even when he wasn't trying. Inside the showers, a girl with her hair in a bun was brushing her teeth. She was the girl who had been playing violin.

"Hey,"she said, offering the blonde a shy smile.

"Sorry about yesterday,"Victoria forced out.

"What do you mean?"

 _Okay. You've come this far. Just keep going. You got this._

"Your violing playing is, uh, really good. I just kinda panicked."

"Oh. I understand. Thank you."

"Yeah. Whatever. Just don't say I never said anything nice."

The girl seemed to finish what she was doing because she walked out. Victoria smiled. Maybe being nice wasn't as hard as she made it seem. It wouldn't be too hard to make friends, right?

 **Okay so I was going to write some more of the Blackwell Ghost, but I got distracted and then this idea came into my head. I was like "what if Victoria tries too hard and just messes things up?" So I decided to write that. This is at the beginning of school, so none of the bad stuff has happened yet. Also, I live for nerdy Victoria. She's such a secret dork. It's great. Kate seems like she's not angry, Brooke and Dana can't stand her, and Max is just confused. Good job, Victoria. You're making everyone angry. If you have anything to say, you can leave a review or shoot me a PM and I'll write back as soon as I can!**


	2. Chapter 2

Victoria held a flier in her hand. Double checking, she saw that she it was for tonight. She took a deep breath and turned to Nathan. She hadn't felt comfortable coming alone, so he offered to join her.

"I don't know if we should go in. I mean, what if they don't want us here? They could kick us out or something."

"We're rich as fuck. No one can tell us what to do. Besides, we've already came this far. We're doing this, Vic. No one's gonna stop us."

"Okay. We just open these doors and walk in. We can do this. Let's go."

Brooke and Warren had arranged a video game championship to see who the greatest player at Blackwell was. All the nerds of the school were there. They had managed to get the gym as their location. If you wanted to enter the competition, you would have to send Brooke an email with your gamertag. Then, you would be randomly paired up and fought against the other person. The winner would advance to the next round.

There was a snack table on one end, a warm up area, the main arena with a TV screen displaying the current match, and several places for people to sit. Music was playing on a stereo. It was some indie band Victoria had never heard of. A few faces stuck out of the crowd, but she wasn't exactly happy to see them. This was a place for nerds, through and through. The two Vortex club members didn't exactly fit in.

"I told you this was a bad idea,"Victoria said, walking through the gym doors.

"Their music taste is questionable."

"That's an understatement."

Brooke walked over and put a hand on her hip. An annoyed expression was on her face. Warren stood next to her, trying to look tough.

"What are _you_ doing here? Don't you know this is a nerd thing?"

"Oh believe me, we know,"Victoria said.

"Then what are you even doing here?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because Warren and I put together this whole thing. We're not going to let you two snobs mess this up. We've worked too hard on this."

"Look, we aren't here to mess up your stupid little thing."

"Then why _are_ you here?"

"Look,"Nathan said, stepping in between the two girls,"As much as I love watching chicks fight, we aren't here to crash your weird thing, so chill. Take what you can get. Okay?"

"Whatever."

Brooke turned around and walked away. Warren quickly scurried back to wherever Max was. The two rich kids took seats in the back so no one would notice them until it was time for Victoria to compete. They each took an earbud and turned on Victoria's music. It was much better than the indie garbage they were playing.

After a while, Brooke's voice came over the intercom.

 _"Would the players with the gamertags rosenlily and sodiumchloride734 please make their way to their stations?"_

Victoria stood up and took a deep breath. This would be a terribly embarrassing moment for her. The newly-found queen of Blackwell would be stooping this low on her second week here. If she lost the friends she had made, it was very likely she'd be stuck with only Nathan. Then again, her best friend was the son of the most powerful man in Oregon. She held her head high and walked down to the arena.

Each person had their own chair and controller. From there, they would battle their opponent. Victoria's first match was against a short boy who's name she never bothered to learn. He was just some science nerd. The boy looked surprised to see Victoria. It was understandable, really. What really pissed her off was the boy checking her out when they shook hands.

"My eyes are up here,"she practically growled.

He said nothing, but looked scared, immediately looking her in the eyes. It was the sort of look many guys had when dealing with her. It was also the look people gave tigers and other dangerous animals. Sometimes, people were convinced Victoria Chase _was_ a dangerous animal.

"You're going down, loser,"she said in her usual, sharp as glass tone.

"That's what you think."

"In this corner,"Warren said, motioning to Victoria,"We have the newcomer, rosenlily! And in this corner, we have a familiar face from last year. Please welcome sodiumchloride734!"

Victoria was focused solely on the task at hand. If she thought about her reputation now, she'd lose. She had to channel her inner nerd if she wanted to win this.

"On the count of three, the match will begin. Three! Two! One! Fight!"

She had to admit that the boy tried his best, but it just wasn't enough to beat her. Once she was announced as the winner of that match, she walked over to the snack table to find Nathan. When she got there, he already had a cookie in each hand.

"What's up, beautiful?"

"Well, you're stuffing your face and I just beat some dude."

"I saw. I wasn't really sure what was happening, so I came over here. They may be losers, but these nerds have good taste in sweets."

"We aren't supposed to call them losers, Nate. Remember? We're being nice now."

"Shit. I forgot."

"I know."

Victoria leaned over and took a bite out of the cookie he was holding in his hand. Nathan frowned at her, but said nothing. Before they could continue bickering, Brooke walked over.

"Wow, Victoria. I didn't think you were here to compete."

"You can't judge a book by it's cover."

"You can try, though."

"Retract the claws, Vic. You don't have to fight her today. Just chill."

"It's funny. I'm usually having to tell you that."

"Well, yeah. Everyone knows he can't control his anger,"Brooke countered, putting a hand on her hip.

Nathan's eyes burned in anger. Before he could say or do anything, he felt a hand grip his own. When he looked over, Victoria was staring back at him. She gave him the look that always calmed him down when he was upset.

"Whatever. I'm going back to our seats. You coming?"

"I'll be there in a sec."

When Nathan was gone, Victoria turned back to look at the other girl. Brooke was pretending to be unimpressed when she was really terrified that Nathan was going to hurt her.

"That was so not cool,"the blonde said, frowning.

"Neither is being a jerk on the first day of school."

"Look, I didn't-"

"Skip the chat, Chase. If you can actually win this thing, I'll think about listening to your excuse."

"Alright, but you better apologize to Nate. He's messed up, and it't not his fault."

"Maybe you two should start being nice for a change."

"If only it were that easy,"Victoria mumbled.

"What're you talking about?"

"Nothing."

"Whatever."

Victoria was put up against several other nerds from her school. After a few matches, she made it into the semi-finals. There were three people left. The first was Warren Graham. He could be a bit of a challenge. Second was Brooke Scott. She had a grudge against Victoria that she didn't seem willing to let go. The last was Max Caulfield. It was a mystery why the hipster had lasted so long in the competition, but she seemed like she wouldn't be too difficult to beat. The semi-finals flew by with Victoria and Warren going on to the finals. Nathan was cheering from the sidelines, but it was unclear what he was saying. Everyone was too scared to say anything to him, so he was allowed to do anything he wanted.

"You're going down,"Warren said.

For some reason, he was grinning as he walked towards her. She was unsure, even when they were shaking hands. His hands were sweaty while hers were soft and well moisturized. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Warren seemed to freeze for a minute when their hands touched.

"What? Have you never touched a girl's hand before?"

"Uh... No."

She took Warren's sleeve and used it to clean off her hand before walked away. He seemed mesmerized by her every move. If she had yet another creepy nerd following her around, Victoria might have to take Nathan up on his offer to kill someone for her. Three nerds were bad enough. She didn't need a fourth.

"Three! Two! One! Fight!"Brooke shouted.

"You're going down, Victoria,"Warren said from the other side.

"Not unless I kill you first."

"You're popular. Everyone knows popular chicks don't play video games very well."

"Well, Warren. You're forgetting something."

"What's that?"

"I'm Victoria Chase and I _always_ get what I want."

She delivered the final hit to him. The crowd didn't cheer. However, Nathan cheered loud enough for everyone. He ran down the stairs and tackled her in a hug. Warren looked sad, but he walked over.

"Congrats, Victoria. I really didn't think you could beat me. Seems like you're a nerd after all."

"I'm not a nerd, I'm a popular chick that happens to be good at video games."

"You were great,"Nathan said with a grin.

Brooke walked over. "Wow, Victoria. I didn't think you could do it."

"I told you not to judge a book by it's cover."

"Maybe we could chat sometime? Do you, uh, want to get some lunch sometime?"

"Maybe. I don't know. We'll see. I'll text you sometime."

The two rich kids linked arms and began walking away.

"You don't even have my number!"Brooke called after them.

"Au revoir!"Victoria called back.

"You know,"Nathan said,"Instead of calling you Vic, I should call you Victor since you just kicked ass."

"If you ever call me Victor, I swear to god I'll shave your head while you sleep."

"You wouldn't."

"I know where you sleep."

"Victoria."

"Room 111."

" _Victoria._ "

"Don't test me, boy,"she said, imitating her father's voice when Nathan once asked him if Victoria could hang out in the middle of the night.

The two of them laughed. It felt nice to assert herself as Queen of Blackwell while getting on good terms with her neighbor. The only downside was a new nerd following her around. That didn't matter now, though. What mattered was she had overcome the first obstacle in being nice to people. According to Google, the first step in making friends with your enemies was to get on good terms. Step one was complete. Now, it was time to be extra nice to everyone she met. What was that saying? Oh yeah. She would kill them with kindness.

 **Why's everyone in love with Victoria? Who knows. I sure don't. Two people told me this story has potential, sooooo I hope I do well? I don't know. Thanks, though! It means a lot to know people actually like what I'm writing. I don't actually have much to say about this chapter, so if you have anything to say, you can leave a review or shoot me a PM. I'll try to respond as soon as I can.**

 **Hint for the next chapter:**

 **Victoria is too nice to a lot of people and they take it the wrong way. A lesson to learn from this is to not be too friendly.**


	3. Chapter 3

The Queen of Blackwell walked through the doors of her kingdom. Behind her, Taylor and Courtney scurried along, as if they were afraid of being left behind. The so called "Bitch of Blackwell" walked over to a group of kids. Among them were Max, Kate, Warren, and Brooke.

"Good morning!"

"Victoria?"Max said, confused.

"That can't be her. She's clearly been abducted,"the only boy there said.

He grabbed onto Victoria's shoulders and shook her yelling "WHERE'S THE REAL VICTORIA?" She had to bite her tongue to stop from spouting a waterfall of insults on the boy. Instead, she just smiled.

"What do you mean? I _am_ the real Victoria."

"Good morning, Victoria,"Kate said,"Did you sleep well?"

"Better than ever. You sounded so good on your violin today. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to interrupt."

"It's alright. I don't mind."

Nathan walked over, slinging an arm over his best friend's shoulders. He seemed tired. Then again, everyone was.

"These nerds bothering you?"

"Not at all. I was just making friends. You really should try being nice, Nate."

"I guess I could give it a try."

He put on a smile. "I don't think we've ever met formally. I'm Nathan Prescott."

"I'm Max. This is Kate, that's Brooke, and that's Warren."

"Yeah, we remember you,"Brooke said,"You ate all the cookies at the tournament last week."

"And I'm incredinly sorry. Do you think you could forgive me?"

"I guess."

The bell rung. Nathan hugged his best friend goodbye before "advising" everyone to get to class. He waved goodbye before leaving. Victoria turned to the four and smiled.

"See you in class."

"See you later, Victoria,"Kate said with a smile.

"Whatever,"Brooke said,"Come on, Warren. We need to get to class."

Warren waved over his shoulder as he was dragged away. Max just nodded at Victoria. When she thought Victoria couldn't hear her, she started to talking to Kate. Victoria only heard a little bit, but she could tell they were talking about her. She brushed it off and kept walking.

In photography class, Victoria pulled her chair up to Max's table and sat down. She smiled at the brown haired girl. Taylor followed her queen's lead and sat on the other side of Max's table. If Victoria wanted to be nice to nerds, Taylor would follow in her footsteps.

"Um. Hi, Victoria,"Max said.

"Hey, Max."

"Is there something you need?"

"Just wanted to hang out and talk."

"What about?"

"Whatever you want."

"Okay. So what are you doing here?"

"I think we should be friends."

"What? Why?"

"Why not? We both like photography. We have several classes together and you're right across the hall. Since we're stuck together for the rest of the year, why not get along?"

Max thought for a moment. "Alright. I guess that doesn't sound so bad."

"Want to hang in my room after class?"

"Sure. Why not?"

For the rest of class, Victoria and Taylor were nice to Max. After class, Victoria took Max by the hand and led her off, saying something about a party the Vortex club was throwing on Friday. In the hallway, the two met up with Nathan. When they found him, he was talking to Warren about some science homework he didn't understand.

"I just don't get it,"Nathan said.

"How? It's easy!"

"Do you think you could show me how?"

"I guess I could. Come by my room later and I'll show you how."

"Sounds great."

The boys looked over, noticing Victoria and Max. Nathan walked forward to high-five his best friend. Victoria released Max's hand to do the same. Both smiled at each other, making eye contact. Nathan raised an eyebrow and Victoria nodded. He grinned in response. The two had known each other for so long that they didn't even need words sometimes. Having someone so close made highschool so much easier than it would be alone.

"What's up, Vic?"

"Not much. Max and I were about to head to my room to hang."

"Hi, Victoria,"Warren said,"D- Do you want me to carry your books?"

"No, I think I can manage,"she said, flashing him a smile.

 _He looks like he could fall over at any moment. Ugh. He's so pathetic, but I have to be nice to him if he's friends with Max._

"Hey, uh, I was wondering if maybe you guys would like to hang out sometime. I mean, since you're friends with Max and I'm friends with Nathan now, we're like a big group now. So, like, we should all hang out sometime."

"Sounds good. What do you have in mind?"Nathan asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe go to a movie or something?"

"There's some movies playing at the theater tonight. We could go see that?"Victoria suggested,"I have a car we could go in."

"Good. I crashed my car and my stupid parents won't get me a new one,"Nathan huffed, crossing his arms.

"Alright. We'll come by the boys' dorms at like 6:30. You better be ready."

Victoria took Max's hand again and led her away. Warren, of course, was convinced he and Victoria were going to double date with Nathan and Max. To anyone else, it was painfully obvious that they were just some friends going to hang out. Before going to the theater, they all agreed to get dinner. Before that, Victoria took Max to her room. The hipster was mesmerized by everything.

"Are you going to sit down?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah."

Max immediately took a seat on the floor. Even though she tried not to, Victoria couldn't help but laugh. The brunette felt her face go red. She had a light, airy laugh that would have been much nicer if Max wasn't the one being laughed at.

"You're funny. I meant on the couch or at the desk."

"Oh. Right."

She stood up and took a seat on the couch. In her haste to do things right, Max stumbled forward and fell onto the blonde seated on one side of the couch. Victoria smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Instead, it seemed almost fake. Max quickly looked away and moved off of her.

"Sorry,"she mumbled.

"It's fine. Are you okay?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in concern. It seemed genuine enough. Victoria gently rested a hand on her shoulder. Max felt like Victoria's eyes burned through her and saw everything underneath. It was a silly question. It was obvious that she wasn't okay.

"I'm fine."

"Alright."

Victoria took her hand off Max's shoulder. She crossed one leg over the other and rested both hands on her knee, interlocking her fingers. Her phone buzzed on the table, lighting up from a new message. Max looked over and saw it was from Zach. The blonde chose to ignore her phone. Instead, she turned to Max.

"We don't really know much about each other."

"I guess not."

"We should change that. Tell me about yourself."

"Um. I'm from Arcadia Bay, but my family moved to Seattle five years ago."

"It must be tough to leave all your friends,"Victoria said, her smile fading.

"I only had one, but she was great."

"What was she like?"

Max smiled. "She was amazing. We used to play pirates when we were younger. She used to joke about taking over Arcadia and ruling it. She was the captain and I was her first mate. We were just a couple kids, you know?"

"Not really."

"What was your childhood like?"

"When I was really little, my family was good friends with the Prescotts. I was forced to talk with Nathan. At first, I hated him. I once stole his cookies and spit my gum out in his milk."

Max laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I also pushed him down one time and kicked dirt in his eyes. We hated each other. Eventually, we became friends. My parents bought me a phone so I could talk to him."

"That's sweet."

"They just wanted me to shut up."

"Oh."

"Yeah. For a long time, we stayed in Seattle, but then I headed here to learn photography from the famous Mark Jefferson. Ever since we became friends, it's just been me and Nathan. We made a pact to be friends forever."

"Sounds like me and Chloe."

"Chloe? As in Chloe Price?"

"Yeah. Do you know her?"

"She used to go to school here. Lots of the kids I knew moved away after last year and they brought in a bunch of new kids. Chloe got expelled so I figured I'd never hear or see her again."

"Were you two friends?"

"No. She hung out with this dumb Rachel Amber chick. I couldn't stand either of them, but I guess if Chloe was your friend, she can't be all that bad."

"A lot can change in five years. She probably can't stand me."

"I don't think anyone could hate you."

Suddenly, Max noticed how close the two of them were. They were sitting too close for this to be a normal friendly talk. Their knees were nearly touching and their shoulders brushed when one of them moved slightly. Victoria was facing her now with a sincere smile. Her eyes had a sort of shimmer in them. If she wanted to, Max could get lost in eyes like those. She knew she should look away, but she couldn't bring herself to break eye contact. Max's eyes were a lot like the ocean. They were unpredictable in the sense that you couldn't read her easily. Maybe that's why Victoria kept looking into them. She wanted to see what she was feeling. Had she said the wrong thing? There was no going back now. It wasn't like she could take them back. Despite everything in her head telling her not to, Victoria kept talking.

"You're too nice to people. I'm sure Chloe can fogive you."

"I should go put my stuff up. I'll be back in a minute."

"Yeah. Okay."

Max stood up and walked out the door. When she was safely in her room, she allowed herself to freak out. She was just sitting oddly close to a very attractive girl that she was now "friends" with. Even though she had only been at Blackwell for a little while, Max quickly caught on to how Victoria treated people that said or did something wrong. She was terrified of what her new "friend" was capable of doing to people. What if she said or did something to upset her? What if Victoria just wanted to know her so she knew what would make her upset?

She shook her head. No. Victoria had been nothing but nice to her. Of course, there was the first day, but Max was sure no one was happy that day. Moving day was never a good time for people. She set her school books down before taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

Victoria frantically made sure there was no visible evidence of her inner self. She hid her glasses and extra contacts in a drawer, her various consoles were hidden out of sight, and her figurines were hidden behind her clothes. Her eyes scanned the room for a sign of anything nerdy. When she found nothing, she smiled. Before sitting down, she turned on some music. Then, she picked up her phone and let herself relax. She saw that she had a few text messages.

Zach: Ay wassup?

Victoria: Just hanging out. U?

Zach: Thinking of u

Victoria: What about me?

Zach: Ur hot

Victoria: Rlly? How hot?

Zach: Way hot

Victoria: Hotter than Juliet?

Zach: Way hotter

Victoria was so distracted by messing with Juliet's boyfriend that she didn't notice Max walk in. That is, until she spoke.

"Hey."

Victoria jumped in surprise before letting out a sigh of relief. "Jesus, Max! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry. I tried knocking, but you didn't answer."

"I guess I was a little... distracted."

"Who are you texting?"

"Just a guy."

"Aw does Victoria have a crush?"

"Ew. No. I'm just messing with him. It's funny to see him get all worked up."

"You have a sick sense of humor."

"Maybe so."

"What are we going to do until we have to pick up Warren and Nathan?"

"Whatever you want."

"I know you like video games. Why don't we play one?"

"Oh, I'm not really that into them. I'm really only good because Nathan likes them,"Victoria said, looking at the ground.

"Come on, I'm sure there's more than just the rich girl side of you. Nobody's that one dimensional."

"Well... I guess I could let you know a little about me. I do like video games, but I'm certainly not a nerd like Warren and Brooke."

"Whatever you say, Victoria."

At least Max seemed more comfortable around her. The one thing she didn't want to do is make her guest unhappy or feel unwelcomed. Victoria flashed a smile. She pointed to a drawer in the corner.

"You can pick out a game or movie from over there."

Victoria typed on her phone, texting Zach. Honestly, he was so pathetic. He had a girlfriend, but here he was hitting on Victoria at every chance he had. Yeah. She _totally_ wanted a guy to cheat on his girlfriend with her. She may like to cause trouble sometimes, but she had morals.

"Hey, Victoria?"

"Hm?"

"Whose glasses are these?"

"What?"

Her head snapped up. She stomped over to Max and snatched the glasses out of her hands. At least, she would have if Max hadn't moved them out of her reach.

"Give those back!"

"Wowser. You're really upset about this. You can tell me anything, Victoria. We're friends now, right? Are these yours?"

"Yes,"Victoria said after a long moment of silence.

Max slid the glasses onto her face. She smiled and even laughed a little. She grabbed her camera and took a picture. Immediately, she looked away.

"Sorry, you just look so cute."

"It's fine."

Victoria carefully set her glasses on the desk. She looked back at Max. She didn't know what to say, so she just smiled. She didn't mean to show Max so much of herself. What she really wanted was to test the water. She wanted to see if she could really trust Max with all the secrets she was too scared to tell anyone besides Nathan. Luckily, Max spoke up.

"You know, Victoria. You don't have to put up a front to get people to like you." She gave Victoria a shy smile. "I mean, people will like you for who you are. Just be yourself."

"Alright. From now on, I'm going to try my best to be myself around you, Maxine."

"I'll let that slide." She turned back to the drawer before adding "for now."

Victoria walked back over to her couch and took a seat. She smiled as Max chose a game for the two to play. In the end, Max coudln't decided and they ended up watching TV and talking. Eventually, the time came to go pick up the boys. Nathan and Warren were waiting for them outside the boys' dorms.

"Finally the princess and her loyal nerd,"Nathan said with a grin.

Victoria put a hand on her hip. "Be nice."

"I'm just joking. Chill, Vic."

"Hey, Victoria,"Warren said with a dorky smile on his face,"You look really pretty."

"Are we going or what?"Max asked.

"Of course. Come on. My car's in the parking lot."

Victoria's car was, of course, a luxury sports car. None of them knew much about cars, but Max and Warren knew enough to figure out this car was worth more than they could ever dream of making. The boys sat in the backseat, Victoria drove, and Max sat in the passenger seat.

"Ever since you won that stupid competition, nerds and geeks have been talking to me,"Nathan said,"I mean, I don't even know them! Why are they talking to me?"

"I've got them following me around. I swear, I can't go anywhere without someone following me. Ugh. Being popular is so hard."

"It's not that I don't want to talk to them. I just don't know what to say. We don't have anything in common!"

"A few of them have offered to do my work for me. I won't let them, though. A Chase doesn't take charity."

"Do you think you could spare a few of your loyal subjects and send 'em over to the Prescott Kingdom?"

"Dream on. You need to do your own work for a change."

"Whatever. I still got Warren, right?"

"Yeah!"Warren said a little too quickly.

"Someone's eager,"Max teased.

"Can we go to McDonalds?"

"Uh. I guess,"Victoria said, wrinkling her nose.

She'd never gone to a fast food restaurant and it was very likely that she wouldn't eat anything there. Once everyone had ordered, Victoria took out her wallet to pay. She pulled out a hundred dollar bill.

"Do you have change for a hundred?"she asked the cashier.

"It's a twelve dollar purchase, ma'am."

"I know. Do you have change or not?"

The cashier quickly handed over her change. It wasn't everyday that you got to serve someone as rich as the Chases or Prescotts. Victoria turned away from the cashier and walked over to a table. As hungry as she was, she would never stoop so low as to eat in such a place. Just the smell of fast food was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach.

"I need some air,"she declared, standing up.

"Whatever, Vic."

Victoria walked outside, taking a few deep breaths of clean air. The night air was crisp and cool against her burning lungs. She leaned against the wall of the building and let herself slide down to the ground. She buried her head in her knees, as if she thought closing her eyes would make her be somewhere else.

"Victoria?"

She glanced up to see Kate standing over her. Victoria had no idea what the Christian girl was doing here, but she wasn't going to tell her to leave. Kate was nice enough. She could stay for now.

"Oh. Hi."

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

"It's the ground. I don't own it." She immediately regretted her tone. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

Kate took a seat next to her. "It's okay. So, what are yo udoing out here all alone?"

"Just being inside that place makes me sick to my stomach."

"That makes sense. You probably have higher standards when it comes to food than most people. If you want, I can talk with you for a little while. Alyssa and Stella are already inside. I'm not really hungry."

"What are you guys doing out so late?"

"We're going to see a movie, actually."

"We are, too."

Really? Maybe we could all go together."

Victoria smiled. "I think I'd like that."

"You know, you really are nice when you want to be."

"I think you're nicer than me. You're pretty, too."

"You think so?"

"Of course. Everyone knows you're gorgeous."

Kate smiled. In the lights of McDonalds, Victoria could see the othe girl's face was tinted red. She had no idea what she had done wrong. Seh was just being friendly, right? For the rest of their friends' time inside, Victoria and Kate sat outside and talked. Eventually, they moved to Victoria's car to listen to the radio.

"About time,"Victoria said when the three others finally showed up.

Kate left to join Alyssa and Stella. Victoria started up the car when they were all seated and buckled up. The movie theater was old and run down on the outside, but surprisingly modern on the inside. The four of them grabbed snacks and drinks before taking their seats. Victoria and Nathan sat next to each other with the Prescott boy on the outside of the group. That way, if anyone walked by, they knew not to mess with the group. Max sat next to Victoria and Warren sat on the other side of Max. Kate's group must have sat somewhere else in the theater because they weren't in sight.

For a while, everyone watched the movie in silence. The only interruptions were side comments on what was happening or what the characters were saying. When it finally got to the scary part, Victoria ended up hiding herself in Max's shoulder. She had tried to use Nathan's but he was fed up with her making everything he had smell like her perfume. He moved to sit next to Warren instead. Max slowly put an arm around Victoria. She didn't really know what else to do.

"Do you, uh, want to leave?"

"No,"Victoria said,"It's fine. I don't want to ruin the movie for you."

"I wasn't really watching it."

"If you're okay with it, I'd like to go outside."

The two girls shuffled out of the theater and into the night air. The parking lot was behind the theater, out of the way of the street lights. It was the perfect place for someone who didn't want to be seen. Who knows what went down here? At the moment, neither girl really cared. Victoria led Max towards the car.

"We could ditch them and let them take the bus home,"Victoria suggested.

"I don't know. Does the bus even run this late?"

"Yeah. I've taken the bus back to school after the Vortex club parties."

"I heard those are pretty wild."

"You could come sometime, if you want. Nathan and I are the King and Queen of the Vortex club."

"You two practically own the school."

"I guess."

Victoria shivered and reached into her purse for her keys. She frowned. Her keys were missing from their usual place. She frowned before searching around once more.

"Nathan must have taken my keys. He's smarter than he looks."

"Why would he take your keys?"

"So I can't ditch him."

Victoria sat on the hood of her car and patted the space next to her. Max sat down next to her. At first, she was worried. After all, she wasn't exactly known for being graceful. She was accident prone. Anything that could be broken would be broken by her.

"So now what?"Max asked.

"We wait. The movie probably has an hour or so left."

"So we're going to freeze our asses off for the next hour? Great."

"We'll just have to conserve heat."

They were close. If Max wasn't so preoccupied with all the thoughts spinning around her head, she would have said something. Instead, she just stared at Victoria. She had no idea what the other girl had in mind, but she intended to find out. Before she knew it, she felt two hands on her shoulders. She let herself be pushed onto her back. Victoria pulled down the zipper of Max's jacket before settling down on the other girl. She pressed her nose into the other girl's neck and breathed in.

"You smell like hipster."

"You smell like flowers."

"I guess I can't argue with that."

It was a little warmer now that they were sharing jackets. Max rested one of her hands on Victoria's waist. Her other hand was twirling a lock of blonde hair. Even though she'd be lying if she said she'd never thought about being this close to Victoria, it was nicer than she thought it would be.

"Why do you cut your hair so short?"Max asked.

Victoria shrugged as well as someone lying down could. "I guess it's easier to manage this way? I don't really know. I've never had long hair."

"I think it's cute this way."

"That's probably another reason. Everyone says it looks good on me. Taylor says it makes people think I'm gay."

"Are you?"

She shrugged again. "I haven't really thought about it. You?"

"What?"

"Are you as gay as everyone thinks?"

"Uh... I guess? I didn't know people thought I was."

"They do. You'd be surprised by how judgy people can be."

"So you gossip a lot?"

"Yeah. It comes with being popular. I also get rumors spread about me. Sometimes, I'll get someone to spread one about me just so I can disprove it. That way, I look just like everyone else."

"You're evil."

"Hardly."

"At the very least, you're a social butterfly. That's about the same thing."

"Hey, sometimes even I get sick of people. Right now, for example. I just want to go to sleep for a few days."

"You can take a nap if you want. I'll wake you up when they get out here."

"You'd do that?"

"Sure."

"Thanks, Max." She let out a sigh. "You know, you're pretty comfy."

"Oh. Thanks. I think."

Victoria went to sleep pretty quick. The boys helped get the sleeping girl into the car. Then, Nathan drove them all home. Victoria was woken up when they arrived back at Blackwell. She didn't really want to let go of the cozy hipster, but she knew she had to get to her own room. Before Max closed her door, Victoria decided to ask her to stay over.

"Why?"

"Oh. I was just wondering. You know, they say sleeping close to someone builds trust."

Max laughed at the excuse. "I guess I could stay. Let me get changed first."

"Alright."

Eventually, the two were snug under the blankets. Victoria was nuzzled into Max's neck, on the edge of sleep. If Max wanted to say something, she would have to say it soon. So, she did.

"How are you so tired?"

"I had to deal with people all day. Keeping up a front all day is tough."

"What do you mean? What front were you putting up?"

"Pretending to be happy all day makes me tired. Plus that Warren guy kept bothering me. He's a total creep."

"I think he's nice."

"You aren't being stalked by him. I swear, he won't leave me alone."

"Have you tried hiring a hitman?"

Victoria laughed. "I don't know if that would work well enough. Too much paperwork."

"You'd know."

"I did try to hire one, but there was way too much paperwork to fill out."

"Are you serious?"

"No."

"Oh. You had me scared for a sec, Tori."

"Tori?"

"Yeah. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Can I go to sleep now?"

"Yeah. Goodnight."

"Night."

 **I made lots of stuff up because I didn't know it and I couldn't find it on the Life is Strange wiki. Victoria is a huge nerd. Like geez, girl. Get a grip. This chapter is super long because I didn't feel like making a new chapter. Why not just do a super long one? Nathan has Victoria's keys for the sake of the gay. This is over 4k words. Whoops. Hope it was worth the wait.**


	4. Chapter 4

When Max woke up, it was to the familiar feeling of an empty bed. Strangely enough, the blankets she was covered with were much softer than the ones in her room. She lifted her head off the pillow and looked around. Victoria was casually laying on the couch with a controller in her hands. She was mumbling to herself about something. She seemed frustrated. She didn't seem to notice Max.

"Good morning."

Victoria jumped. "God, Maxine. You scared me!"

"Sorry. I just woke up. How long have you been up?"

"A little while. Long enough to take a shower and play some video games."

"You're such a nerd."

"No I'm not!"

"Okay. Undercover nerd."

"Think whatever you want, but no one can know, okay?"

"Why don't you want anyone to know?"

"I have to keep up appearances, Max."

"Why?"

"People are harsh. If they knew I had any weaknesses, they'd tear me to pieces."

"People will like you for who you are,"Max said,"There's plenty of people that have things in common with you. They'll be your friend if you're nice to them."

"It's hard to be nice."

"What?"

"Nevermind. You wouldn't understand."

"No, go ahead."

Victoria groaned. "I'd rather not talk about feelings."

"Why not?"

"I swear, you're like a four year old with all the questions you ask."

"Sorry. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to."

"No. It's fine. I just find it hard to be nice to people. My first instinct is to search out people's weaknesses and tear them apart. I'm trying to be nicer, but it's really hard. I'm just not good with people, you know?"

"I wouldn't know. You seem pretty good with social interactions to me."

"I'm just good at keeping up appearances."

Max nodded. She still had the blankets pulled over her. She wasn't really in the mood to get up out of bed. Especially since it was so warm and cozy. She was tempted to ask Victoria to join her, but she didn't want to sound weird.

"What time is it?"Max asked.

Victoria checked her phone. "A little after ten."

"Hm."

"Are you ever going to get out of my bed?"

"Oh! I, uh, I was going to. Does it bother you if I hang around here for a little while?"

"No, that's fine. I was just going to hang out and play this game. I've been trying to beat this boss, but this fucking asshole is too hard to beat."

"Oh. What's so hard about it?"

"Okay. So, you have to dodge this fire and then this asshole over here is going to hit you with his powers. You take out the guys on the left and the right. Then, the boss shows up. He has wind and fire powers. You're supposed to take out the supports out from under him. After that, you go to the second level of the boss fight. There's these things shooting out of the walls and the boss is shooting. After that, I'm pretty sure you beat him."

"Wow. Sounds pretty complicated."

"It is."

"Good luck."

"I'll need it."

The sound of soft violin playing was muffled by the walls. It didn't fit with the graphic game on the TV. Victoria was too focused to notice the contrast between the two. Even though her game was on mute, she was concentrated. After a few moments, the words "Game Over" appeared on the screen and Victoria growled at the screen.

"Could I try?"

"If you want."

She patted the space next to her on the couch. Max sat next to her and let the controller be shoved into her hands. Victoria leaned over and pointed at the buttons as she explained what each one did. Then, she sunk into the couch and crossed her arms. After a few tries, Max barely managed to beat the boss. Victoria jumped up from her seat and cheered. She grabbed Max by the hand and pulled her up. She hugged her tightly before pulling away and giving her a big smile.

"You did it, Max!"

"Yeah. I guess I did."

"You're amazing."

"I, uh, I don't know if I'd say that."

"Of course you are. I don't know how long I would have spent on this if I didn't have you to help me."

"I wasn't really doing much."

"Nonsense. You did more than I could."

Max laughed. "I guess. I'm not really that good at games. Warren taught me how to play this one, actually. He has it."

"Oh yeah. That guy."

Victoria's smile faded at the mention of Warren. She sunk back down into the couch, propping her feet up on the table. She let out a sigh.

"He's nice."

"He's a creep,"Victoria said.

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know. I get a bad vibe off him. Ever since the tournament, he's been following me around like a lost puppy. Just. Ugh."

"What can I say? You appeal to the nerds."

"Even you?"

"I, uh."

"Relax, Max. I'm just kidding."

"Oh. Yeah, I knew that."

"What's the plan for today?"

Max thought for a moment. "I was just going to hang out in my room on my computer."

"I have a Vortex party to prepare for. You're invited, by the way."

"Oh, I don't know if I'm really up for a party."

"If you change your mind, your name's on the guest list."

"Thanks. I think I should get back to my room and get dressed."

Victoria nodded. "See you later, Max."

Later that afternoon, Kate decided to visit Victoria's room. The Christian girl gave her a smile.

"May I come in?"

"Oh yeah. Sure."

Kate sat down on the edge of the couch. She took a look around the room. Then, she looked back at Victoria.

"Your room is nice."

"It's alright."

 _That was a lame thing to say._

"What'd you need?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. We're neighbors, but we don't know very much about each other."

"You know I'm a huge bitch."

"You're not that bad."

"Oh whatever. You're just too nice to admit it."

"You know, why don't we hang out sometime? Maybe get some tea?"

Victoria shrugged. "If you want."

"Yeah. I'd really like it if you would."

"Then, sure. Why not?"

"How about tonight?"

"Can't. Vortex party. What would they do without their queen?"

"They'd be lost without you. Tomorrow? I have church early in the morning but maybe you could come with and then we could get tea?"

"Sounds great. I'll just have to warn you, I may be really hungover tomorrow morning."

"Thanks for the warning, but I'm sure you aren't that bad. Besides, the Vortex club isn't that crazy, right?"

"You should see us drunk. Then, you'd know crazy."

"I've never been around anyone that was drunk."

"Maybe you should come to a party sometime."

"I don't think I'd be so good at parties. I don't really drink and I don't really get along with most of the Vortex."

"It's not for everyone."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a little scared of what could happen there, you know? I watch a lot of TV shows with teenage girls getting kidnapped, raped, murdered, or drugged. It's just a scary thought."

"So you watch cop shows?"

"Law and Order is my favorite. Well, not the regular one. Just SVU."

"So sex crimes is your thing?"

Kate's face went red at that. "Well, I, uh."

"Chill, it's fine. It's a good show. We should watch it sometime."

"I'd like that."

 _Would it be weird if I hugged her?_

"I should get going,"Kate said, standing up suddenly.

"Alright. See you later."

Victoria stood up and wrapped her in a hug. The shorter girl made a small squeaking sound before relaxing against her. Kate felt a chin rest on her shoulder. After what seemed like a normal amount of time for a friendly hug - or perhaps a little longer - Victoria pulled away and smiled at her.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. See you then."

Kate scurried back to her room to do whatever it was she did on Saturdays. Victoria settled back down on the couch and took out her phone. She clicked on a group chat labeled "Assholes."

NATE: YO VIC

NATE: YOU THERE?

NATE: IS ANYONE HERE?

Court: Im here

Sweet- T: I checked on Vic earlier and she told me to fuck off bc I was "ruining her concentration" or some shit

NATE: IS SHE PLAYING ANOTHER VIDEO GAME?

Court: I think so

NATE: VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC

Victoria: Wtf Nate? Chill

NATE: U DIDNT ANSWER

Victoria: I was talking with some1 sry

NATE: I THUOGHT U DIED

Victoria: Does ur phone not have autocorrect?

NATE: IT KEEPED CORRECTING MY WORDS SO I TRUNED IT OFF

Sweet- T: No offense but u need it

NATE: SAY THAT TO MY FACE BITCH

Victoria: Ill say it 2 ur bitch face

NATE: HAHA REAL FUNNY

Court: All caps makes it sound like youre angry

NATE: IM ALWAYS ANGRY

NATE: LOWERCASE LETTERS ARE FOR THE LOWERCLASS

Victoria: whatevs Nate

NATE: BTW VIC

NATE: WAIT PM ME

She clicked on Nathan's name in her phone.

Victoria: Yeah?

NATE: I HEARD SOMETIHNG ABOUT U

Victoria: Another rumor?

NATE: YEA

Victoria: K what is it?

NATE: PPL R SAYING UR WITH CAULFEILD IS HTAT TRU?

Victoria: Hell no. id tell u if i was

NATE: I KNOW

NATE: JUST CHECKING

Victoria: Speaking of checking, did u take ur meds 2day?

NATE: YES. I DID WHEN I WOKE UP BC U TOLD ME TO

Victoria: Just checking. Good job Nate.

NATE: GTG NERD BOY KNOCKING AT MY DOOR

Victoria: Oooooo is some1 in love?

NATE: WITH NERD BOY? PSSSSSSHHHHHH. NO.

Victoria: Whatevs Nate

NATE: I HATE YOU

Victoria: Love you 2

NATE: BITCH

Victoria: But im ur bitch

NATE: EWWW NO.

NATE: U KNOW IM GAY

Victoria: And u know I am

NATE: CANT TALK CUTE DORK ALERT

She almost laughed at that. Instead, she just put her phone in her purse and gathered up her things. She touched up her makeup in the mirror before walking out of her room. As she walked, she could feel people's eyes on her. She focused her eyes straight ahead.

 _Just ignore tham, Victoria. If they see your heart, they'll tear it to shreds. It's like mom and dad always said "It's a cutthroat world out there. You have to focus your mind on making sure your heart doesn't betray you. Make no friends, only allies. While we the rest of the world may not be, we Chases are always on our guard. We're at war, Victoria. We promise, we're just looking out for you." Just walk. Don't think, walk._

It worked for a little while. The point where people stopped just looking was when a nerdy little freshman boy ran up to her in the courtyard.

"Oh my god. You're the girl that won that video game tournament!"

"So? That doesn't mean you can just run up and start talking to me. Now get your dorky self out of my way before I make a few phone calls to my parents and their friends."

Needless to say, the boy scurried away before he was murdered or publicly humiliated. It was hard to say which was worse. Being dead was pretty bad, but wishing you were dead might be worse. He didn't want to see either of those things play out in his life.

Victoria walked to her car. She started it and began driving. The radio was playing a slower song than what she normally listened to. After a moment of contemplating life, Victoria changed the channel. A pop song played through the speakers at a moderate volume. She kept her eyes on the road as she thought. Whenever she felt like she needed a break, Victoria would drive away from everything that was bothering her. The only problem was that _she_ was usually what bothered her. It was hard to escape yourself. Luckily for her, there was a certain punk girl who made her feel so far away from all her thoughts.

Though she didn't mean to, she parked her car in the Price family's driveway. Her feet led her up the steps and to the front door. Involuntarily, her arm moved to knock on the door. Chloe answered the door. The punk looked her up and down with a smile.

"Well, what do we have here? Blackwell girls are practically throwing themselves at me."

"You're joking."

"Nope. There's plenty of girls from that school of you that show up here. Mom's starting losing track. Dozens of girls all waiting to get a piece of me."

Victoria scoffed. "I doubt that."

"Okay. So maybe it's just you, Max, Rachel, and a couple others look at me when I visit Max and Rach."

"Whatever. I'm here to get high. Nothing else. Got it?"

"Sure. Mom and step- prick are at work, so it's just us."

"Good."

By the time the Vortex party was getting put together, Victoria was getting back to her room to get ready. Music was playing from her stereo. She was standing in front of the mirror, a small bag in one hand. As she was putting the finishing touches on her makeup, there was a knock at her door. Assuming it was one of the Vortex members, she shouted for them to come in. Max popped her head through the door.

"Hey, Victoria. I don't think I'll be going to the party."

"That's fine. Have a nice night."

"You too. Don't party too hard."

"I won't."

Unfortunately, Victoria managed to break that promise early on in the night. Max regretted leaving her window open when she heard someone throwing up in the middle of the night. When she looked out the window, she saw Victoria struggling to stay on her feet.

"Stay there."

"Can't really move without falling."

Max climbed out of bed and went outside to help her. She wrapped an arm around Victoria. When the blonde leaned on her, Max almost fell over.

"You're heavier than you look."

"Nate says I'm real lightweight,"she managed to slur out.

"Maybe for him."

The next ten minutes involved Max having to brush Victoria's teeth for her and falling over multiple times. When they finally made it to the end of the hallway, the blonde was still hanging onto Max's arm.

"Can I stay with you?"

"Why?"

"I don't wanna stay alooooooooone."

She wrapped Max into a hug, accidentally pushing the brunette's face into her sweater. For a about half a minute, Max struggled to breathe through the fabric.

"You can stay as long as you let me breathe,"Max choked out.

"It's not my fault you're short."

"I'm not that short."

"I bet you're the person rappers always are talking about. Are you shorty They say it differently but I think it means the same thing."

"We're not having this conversation. Come on, it's late."

Max dragged Victoria into her room. When they were inside, the blonde collapsed onto the bed before pressing her back against the wall. She looked up at Max with a smile.

"Come oooooon, Max. Get over here."

"Give me a second."

Max took off her shoes before taking off Victoria's. Finally, she climbed into the bed. She faced away from the other girl and put as much space between them as possible. After a few moments, she felt arms wrap around her and pull her closer. Max felt a nose against the back of her neck and warm breath against her skin.

"Goodnight, Victoria."

She made some noise that might have been words if she wasn't so drunk and tired. Max was too tired to ask what that meant. She just accepted whatever the blonde girl did. Besides, what else could she do?

 **First update in a while. At least it's a pretty long chapter. I guess that makes up for it a little bit? I don't know. This chapter is all over the place. There's chasefield, then chasemarsh, then some more chasefield. Then again, that's this whole fic. Also, if you ever read this Blake, you're scrub, but tell me sometime, okay? It'd be good to get some feedback from someone I know.**


	5. Chapter 5

At about eight in the morning, Victoria's phone started ringing. She reached blindly for it before finding it. It was Kate.

"Yeah?"

 _"I just called to ask if you still wanted to get some tea."_

"I don't actually drink tea. Do you think we could go to Starbucks?"

 _"Sure. That sounds great. Is ten okay with you?"_

"Sounds good. I'll be there."

 _"Okay. Bye."_

"Bye."

When she hung up, Victoria snuggled back into Max and began flipping through her social media accounts. On instagram, she saw a picture of herself being carried by a few of the Vortex guys, Taylor dancing on two tables, Juliet passed out on the floor, a video of Nathan chugging a full bottle of alcohol, and various other pictures and videos. There was one video of Victoria singing a karaoke version of a Kesha song with Taylor and Courtney as her backup dancers. At one point in the video, Nathan took the microphone and started singing the guy's part of the song. She had updated her snapchat story while she was drunk. Now, she had several pictures of herself and other people. The most recent picture was of herself sleeping with the caption "don't leave your phone unlocked."

Victoria took Max's phone from the nightstand. She almost laughed when she saw that there was no password. She took a picture of herself and posted it to the hipster's story with the caption "put a damn password on your phone." Then, she put the phone back.

When Max finally woke up, she was laying on Victoria's chest. She had a series of texts and a missed call from Warren. He had stopped trying to talk to her about twenty minutes ago. She could hear the soft tapping of Victoria's fingers as she typed on her phone. She heard a condescending laugh from above her. She looked up at the blonde girl.

"Morning."

"Good morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"I've had enough hangovers. I threw up most of the alcohol last night, anyways."

"We should have gone to your room."

Victoria laughed.

"I, uh, mean because your blankets are softer than mine."

"Sure, Max. Whatever you say."

"I'm serious! That's the only reason!"

"I hope you don't mind, but I answered a phone call from your little nerd friend."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to know if we were dating."

"What did you tell him?"

"I said no because we aren't dating."

"I know. I just didn't know if you'd lie to get him to leave you alone."

"I wouldn't do that."

"Well, I don't know you very well." Max nuzzled into Victoria's cashmere sweater. "But your sweaters seem cozy."

"Get off for a sec."

"Why?"

"It's way too hot with both of us under here. I need to take this off."

Max moved to the side. The blonde sat up and pulled the sweater over her head. She held it out to the other girl.

"You can wear it if you want."

A grin spread across Max's face as she pulled on the cashmere. She breathed in the scent of alcohol and perfume mixed with a hint of smoke. It should have been a disgusting smell, but it reminded her of Victoria.

"Okay, now come here."

Max snuggled back into Victoria. She checked her messages from Warren.

Warren: ARE YOU AND VICTORIA DATING?

Warren: MAX WAKE UP

Warren: I SAW YOUR SNAPCHAT STORY

Warren: I NEED TO KNOW IF YOU TOOK MY WOMAN

Max clicked on snapchat and opened up her story. She laughed at the picture. Victoria was sticking out her tongue and holding up a peace sign.

"I guess this is payback."

"You bet it is."

"I'm sorry. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

"And you looked too cute. It was the perfect revenge."

"You think I'm cute?"

 _Just play it cool._

"Of course."

"Well, I think you're cute, too."

"I think I'm tired."

"I told you not to party too hard."

"I didn't. It was just a few drinks and some weed. Nothing too serious."

"And what counts as too serious?"

"Cocaine, meth. That sort of thing. We don't take that sort of thing to parties most of the time, though."

"Most of the time? That means you _do_ bring it sometimes."

"Of course we do. Cocaine is stronger than weed. Sometimes, you just have to let go of life and do drugs."

"But that's illegal!"

"You should try it some time, Max. You don't understand how good it feels to get away from everyone and everything that bothers you."

"I wish I could do that in a legal way."

"You're friends with a rich kid. You could do anything and I could get you out of trouble."

"You don't have to."

"Don't worry about it. Now, I have to get ready. I'm going to Starbucks with Kate."

"Tell her I said hi."

"Whatever."

"I'm keeping your sweater,"Max called after her.

"Don't care,"Victoria called back.

Kate was already waiting for her at Starbucks. When she saw Victoria, a smile spread across her face. The blonde slid into a seat and gave the other girl the happiest smile she could manage.

"How are you feeling?"

"A little tired, but I'll be fine,"Victoria said with a shrug.

"Do you want to order something or do you want me to?"

"If you get me a white chocolate mocha with extra whipped cream I'll love you forever."

"Have you eaten today?"

"No. I woke up, like, an hour ago."

"I'll get you a sandwich."

"Thanks. Oh wait. Here."

She held out a plastic card. Kate took it from her and nodded before walking up to the register. As always, Starbucks was full of hipsters on their computers. Victoria had the hood of her jacket pulled up over her head and sunglasses on. Her head was pounding from a headache. Maybe it was her lack of food, maybe it was her hangover. Either way, she really wanted to go to bed as soon as possible, but she had promised Kate she would go to Starbucks with her. She forced a smile onto her face when she saw the Christian girl walking back over.

"Thanks."

"You don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good."

"We could go back. Did you drive here?"

"Nate dropped me off."

"Come on,"Kate said,"You don't look very good. We can hang out some other time."

"No. I'm fine. I told you I'd spend time with you and I'm going to."

Kate put a hand on her arm. She lightly tugged on the other girl's arm. "You don't look too good. We can talk back at the dorms."

The taller girl eventually gave in and let herself be led out to the bus stop. On the bus, she managed to eat the sandwich and almost finish her coffee. They didn't talk much as they rode back to Blackwell. In fact, they didn't talk at all until they got back to Victoria's room. The two sat down on the couch.

"Do you want to watch something?"

"Sure. We can watch whatever you want."

Victoria put on Netflix and clicked on Law and Order: Special Victims' Units. For a while, the two just watched TV. In the classic fake yawn sort of way, Victoria slipped her arm around the shorter girl and pulled her closer. About halfway through an episode, Victoria began softly snoring from the safety of Kate's neck. The shorter girl paused the show and snuggled against Victoria.

Soon enough, a few hours had passed. Kate woke up to Victoria trying to crawl out from under her without moving her around too much. Unfortunately, she wasn't very good at being stealthy. Kate laughed in an attempt to hide the redness of her face. It wasn't everyday that you snuggled up to a pretty girl and took a nap with her.

"Morning,"Victoria said after taking a minute to yawn and stretch.

"Even though it's Sunday afternoon."

"Same thing."

"Not really."

"You probably have things to do and I have a ton of homework to do before tomorrow."

"Okay, Victoria. See you tomorrow."

Kate hugged her before walking outside. At some point, Victoria doing her homework turned into texting Max Caulfield.

Victoria: U busy?

Max: Nah.

Victoria: Hw is so boring

Max: Did mine yesterday

Victoria: Cuddle a hipster on friday, vortex party on saturday

Max: You sure were busy this weekend

Victoria: Im always busy

Max: I can tell

Victoria: I was busy even b4 little hipsters started cuddling up to me

Max: Aww I thought it was just me : (

Victoria: Between u and kate I havent had any alone time 3

Max: Youre hangin with Kate now?

Victoria: She wanted to hang today so we went to starbucks and then came back to watch some law and order

Max: I know youre a lot nicer now, but please don't hurt Kate. Shes really nice.

Victoria: I want to be nicer max. Its hard tho

Max: Being nice is hard?

Victoria: I have to get back to doing hw

Max: ... ok

 _God, I'm so stupid. Just text her how you feel. You can do this, Victoria. Come on. Just go for it._

Victoria: Im sorry

Max: For what?

 _Fuck! Now what?_

Victoria: Dont worry about it

Max: Alright. Ill see you in class

Victoria: Yea

After school on Monday, Victoria was walking alone. Her "friends" had all ditched her and Nathan was nowhere to be found. She put in her earbuds and put on music. She assumed her usual bitch face and kept walking. She paused when she saw Max.

 _Okay. I should probably say hello._

She walked over to the hipster and pulled out one earbud.

"Oh! Hey, Tori. What's up?"

 _It's a simple question. You can answer this._

"Cut the 'Tori' shit out, okay? We aren't friends and we never will be. We're on two different levels, Caulfield. If you think for even a second that we're anything but enemies, I'll make your year at Blackwell a living hell."

"Victoria? Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. You. In case you didn't know, we aren't friends. You better hope I don't catch you thinking we are."

 _You fucked up this time, Vic._

With that, Victoria turned away and walked towards the dorms. Max looked understandably stunned. Weeks passed by with Victoria and Nathan taking their places as the king and queen of Blackwell. They cut ties with Max and Warren, surrounding themselves with other popular kids.

"Maybe everything would've been better if we stayed friends with them,"Nathan said.

The two of them sat in the back of a movie theater, tossing popcorn at other people. A man had tried to kick them out, but Nathan had paid him to keep quiet.

"Shh! This is a good part."

"You've seen it like three times since it came out."

"I know. That's why we're talking over it."

"What do you think about Warren?"

"Is this about your crush on him?"

"Maybe. You can't judge me, though. You like two girls."

"Make that three."

"Who's the third?"

"She doesn't go to our school."

"You know I'll figure out."

"Good luck with that."

She threw a piece of popcorn, hitting a large man in the head. The two of them jumped from their seats and ran out the door, laughing.

Days passed by with more harsh words and actions towards the students of Blackwell. At some point, the Vortex club threw a party. It wasn't like the regular ones, though. Victoria drank way too much for someone her size. She didn't remember anything about what happened. All she remembered was waking up in a bed that wasn't hers. She looked around the room for any clues. She noticed clutter all over the floor and desk. The walls were covered with graffiti and posters. She recognized the room, but she couldn't place whose it was. There was someone next to her on the bed, but their head was under the blankets. Victoria decided to lay back down and enjoy the warmth of the bed.

Eventually, the person under the blankets woke up. It was a girl with blue hair and bloodshot eyes.

 _Chloe._

She looked over to her right to see Victoria.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that."

"Did we...?"

"I don't think so."

"Oh. Okay. Now what?"

"Usually, I wake up in my own bed."

"My mom's making breakfast if you want some."

"I could go for some food, but what are we going to tell her if she asks?"

"Yeah. I can imagine the conversation. 'Who's this girl?' 'Oh she's the half naked girl I brought home last night that I sometimes bring over here to smoke weed.' That'd go over great."

She almost laughed at that. "You can tell her I'm a friend of yours that you took home."

"We should probably get dressed."

"Yeah."

I put on the same outfit from the previous night while she dug through her drawers for something.

"I'm going to the bathroom."

"It's in the same place it always is."

I grabbed my purse and headed to the bathroom. I did my makeup in a dusty old mirror before walking downstairs. A woman was in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Oh, hello! You must be one of Chloe's friends. She's always bringing home girls. She must be so popular. What's your name, sweetheart?"

 _She's clueless._

"Victoria. You work at the diner, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"I've been there a few times with some friends."

"I'm guessing you want something to eat, too?"

"If it's no trouble, I'd very much like that, ma'am."

"Please, call me Joyce."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Take a seat over there at the table."

Victoria gracefully sat down in the chair closest to the kitchen. She checked her phone.

 _Dead._

"You want some coffee?"

"Yes, please."

"Are you still in school?"

"Yes, ma'am. I go to Blackwell Academy. I'm hoping to be a photographer one day."

"I'm just happy Chloe has a friend that isn't a delinquent. I hope you'll be a good influence on her."

"I may be a good influence, but I don't think even I could change her."

"Lord knows she needs a change."

"She's a regular trouble maker."

"Having a friend like you will do her some good."

"Talking about me?"Chloe said, walking over to the table.

"Your mother was just telling me how well behaved you are."

"Mom, you can't be telling everyone how much of a softie I am. It'll ruin my street cred!"

"Victoria's such a nice girl. I can't imagine why she'd hang out with you,"Joyce said.

"We balance each other out,"Victoria said with a smile.

After breakfast, the two teens piled into the beat up truck parked in the driveway. Victoria decided now wasn't the time to complain. After all, Chloe was nice enough to give her a ride back. That was more than any of her friends could do. Victoria lit a cigarette.

"Share?"

She handed hers to Chloe and lit another.

"Where do you live?"

"Blackwell Academy."

"I used to go there."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I got kicked out. Bad grades, making trouble. That sort of thing."

"I know some people like you."

"And I know some people like you."

"I guess you can't really judge someone you wake up in the same bed with."

"You could."

"Are you new to this sort of thing?"

"No. Are you?"

"No, but usually I have sex with the people I wake up with."

"Same here."

"I guess it doesn't matter. That would've just made things more complicated."

"You're right. Let's just forget about this."

"Fine by me."

"You're a nice girl, Victoria. You should try to get someone good for you."

"'Nice?'" She scoffed. "I really don't think that's the word for me."

"You've been cool so far. For a straight girl, you're taking all this pretty well."

"Who ever said I was straight?"

"Sorry. You just look like one of those stuck up white girls on TV. I guess I shouldn't assume things."

"Bad habits are the hardest ones to break."

"You're right about that."


End file.
